#401
Posted: 3/31/25 at 10:51am
Hoping to see this on Wednesday matinee, how has the rush/lottery been?
MAYBE HAPPY ENDING Reviews — Page 17
#402
Posted: 3/31/25 at 11:17am
I'd heard of the show but other than Darren Criss starring in it, I had no idea what it was about. We discovered it was a musical and the two leads play robots. My husband wanted to see it, so we got tickets in February. Well! I went in with an open mind, and I fell in LOVE with this show. Couldn't wait for the cast album to be on Spotify. I've been raving to everyone I know to go see it.
#403
Posted: 4/24/25 at 8:47am
I was at the Matinee yesterday and it is still a beautiful musical. I love the score. What surprised me yesterday, fifth visit, is how perfect Darren Cris is. I think his performance nowadays is much improved; such a detailed and layered performance. I was in awe. Chen was always perfect.
I still think it is the best new musical (and I have seen them all, as of last week). It is not a perfect musical (some of the narrative is still too complicated and fuzzy) but it gets me, it transports me and it is a beautiful lesson without being preachy. I would go to the Belasco again and again (plenty of codes around and the mezzanine sides were almost empty)
#404
Posted: 4/26/25 at 3:39am
I don’t think Maybe Happy Ending gets enough credit for the way it uses familiar, rom-com tropes to lure the audience in to more serious themes. It’s a Broadway musical about loneliness, loss and death - and how we deal with that, even if the onstage characters are robots. The staging is colorful, imaginative, and often gorgeous, and it’s very well-acted by Darren Criss and Helen Shen, but what makes the show resonate is those darker themes - because everyone can relate to them. I could feel the people in the audience around me responding - not to vocal pyrotechnics (nothing against that, by the way) but to the characters and the story.
The score isn’t spectacular, but I never thought - while in the theater - that there was anything lacking. Except for the crooner, the songs are driven by the lyrics - which help move the story along and deepen our understanding of the characters.
I wasn’t expecting to dislike Maybe Happy Ending, but I was caught off guard by how much it touched me.
#405
Posted: 5/7/25 at 1:39pm
It’s finally “Hitting the Road.”
National tour launches September 2026 in Baltimore — very curious to see how all the technical elements tailor-made for the Broadway run will translate.
“I am furious, but I am sailing.”
#406
Posted: 5/7/25 at 2:48pm
I'll admit it, I'm eating my hat
I'm just here so I don't get fined
#407
Posted: 5/7/25 at 3:20pm
EDSOSLO858 said: "It’s finally “Hitting the Road.”
National tour launches September 2026 in Baltimore — very curious to see how all the technical elements tailor-made for the Broadway run will translate."
Baltimore continues to be a favorite launch point for tours. The Maryland legislators have given huge tax breaks for the arts, making it much cheaper than many spots. Close enough to NYC to get that connection.
#408
Posted: 5/7/25 at 3:40pm
I saw this over the weekend and it honestly wasn't for me, but the set design was amazing and Helen J Shen is a star
#409
Posted: 5/7/25 at 5:32pm
Does Criss have a final performance date yet? I searched but this search function is awful.
#410
Posted: 5/7/25 at 5:52pm
sppunk said: "Does Criss have a final performance date yet? I searched but this search function is awful."
He has made no comments anywhere that he would be leaving anytime soon. What makes you think that?
#411
Posted: 5/7/25 at 6:54pm
witchoftheeast2 said: "sppunk said: "Does Criss have a final performance date yet? I searched but this search function is awful."
He has made no comments anywhere that he would be leaving anytime soon. What makes you think that?"
It’ll be coming up on its one-year anniversary in October and I know bigger names are sometimes known to have 12-month contracts due to future scheduling. I haven’t seen anything but again the search function leaves a lot to be desired to wanted to ask.
#412
Posted: 5/7/25 at 11:47pm
The search function is a favorite gripe, including by me, but you’re not going to find an answer to your question. I doubt Darren Criss has determined a final performance, much less announced it. He’s a producer of Maybe Happy Ending, is in the midst of promoting the show and himself before the Tony Awards. I seriously doubt he’s going to leave the musical before 12 months - and maybe not even then, especially if it wins Best Musical.
#413
Posted: 5/8/25 at 8:38am
sppunk said: "witchoftheeast2 said: "sppunk said: "Does Criss have a final performance date yet? I searched but this search function is awful."
He has made no comments anywhere that he would be leaving anytime soon. What makes you think that?"
It’ll be coming up on its one-year anniversary in October and I know bigger names are sometimes known to have 12-month contracts due to future scheduling. I haven’t seen anything but again the search function leaves a lot to be desired to wanted to ask."
And going further on what bear88 said, if he were to leave, I doubt it would be to join the tour. especially since he now has two children at home
#414
Posted: 5/8/25 at 8:51am
sppunk said: "bigger names are sometimes known to have 12-month contracts due to future scheduling"
I wouldn’t be shocked if his contract was even just 9 months (with perhaps a negotiated pay bump in the event that he added another 3).
Sometimes the clock starts at start of rehearsals, sometimes at start of previews, sometimes at opening night. There are no rules.
12 is typically the max that anyone is contracted for at a given time.
#415
Posted: 5/14/25 at 10:14am
I went again last night, hadn’t seen the show this year but was reminded that it really is my favorite musical (and production) of the season and that I want Criss to take that Tony SO BADLY.
Those last three words of the show “I hope so”, followed by the look on Oliver’s face as he looks at Claire, just destroy me.
Updated On: 5/14/25 at 10:14 AM
#416
Posted: 5/14/25 at 1:48pm
''The Kelly Clarkson Show'': Darren Criss Hilariously Calls Out Bernadette Peters for Checking Him Out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Expbs7YQgzM
#417
Posted: 5/15/25 at 12:03pm
a few weeks ago I tried to get last minute tickets at the box office for a matinee of "We had a World" and failed (got to see it later in the week) - Maybe Happy was starting in 30 minutes so I figured I would see if I could get standing room last minute - box office had standing room and 1 rush ticket letf in a box. Box Seat, 10 minutes before show, $40. C'mon!
I had heard lots of the volunteers at the TCKTS booth rave about this show, but I wasn't buying it. My goodness what a lovely and charming show! Darren completely nails this part - it's a tricky part to play. He has to have enough emotion that the audience gets the feels... but a lack of emotion so that we can believe he actually is a robot. He has found the absolute perfect formula. This show could literally be a a Pixar movie and I mean that in the best possible way. It's wholesome and family friendly, mostly a feel good show but it asks some tough questions and pulls the heart strings just right.
Hope it wins best musical!
#418
Posted: 5/16/25 at 6:28am
#419
Posted: 5/20/25 at 4:59am
binau said: "TimeToDither said: "kidmanboy said: "I have a feeling some perceptions of the score will change once there is a cast recording. It is very well written."
A cast album justifies it being boring in the actual musical?"
No I think the point is that it's hard to take in a new score for the first time - so the patterns, melodies, harmonies etc. aren't as striking or obvious until you listen a couple times. But sometimes once you're familiar it all kind of clicks into place.
That said, I'm still not 100% convinced in the Maybe Happy Ending score so I'll wait for myself (and I have been listening to the demo tracks!). That's not to say there is anything 'wrong' with it, it serves it purpose. I just think for me at least based on the one viewing the real strength of the show was the book (characters + twists + emotions), the acting and the production/staging.
In a weird way, I kind of thought the experience was more like a play with music than a musical with a capital B for Broadway. Even looking at the website now I can't say that it reflects the tone of what I thought I saw - which I remembered to be a bit more subtle and not big bright colours like a dance show such as "Here Lies Love".
This photo below is more how I remembered it...
I meant to respond to this earlier but I’m glad I waited now that I have listened to the cast recording a couple of times. There are some excellent points here. Maybe Happy Ending is not your classic play-with-music, as the show is filled with songs (both by the two leads and the crooner) as well as instrumental music that is critical in setting the mood for various scenes. The cast recording reminded me of that, as did my response in the theater that the score was ideal for the show.
Plus, I am definitely a lyrics person and the score is so well-crafted, especially given the challenge of writing what is basically a two-person show. Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, in different ways given their robot characters’ differences, both have tricky acting challenges to get the audience invested in their characters and their relationship - and the darker themes that drive the story.
This is, in the end, a musical damned with faint praise for being ‘cute’ that’s about how we deal with abandonment, loss, isolation and death. All the rom-com tropes and colorful set design can’t hide that. And that’s why the musical works so well.
The ending is effective because it manages to leave us with a tangle of emotions that felt earned to me.
#420
Posted: 5/20/25 at 1:14pm
Selling a Center Orch Row J ticket for Saturday Night for $150 or less
(Yes, a Friend bailed on me and I have now 3 extra tickets for 3 different shows)
#421
Posted: 5/27/25 at 12:37pm
Maybe Happy Ending creators Michael Arden and Dane Laffrey on their enchanting musical
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/maybe-happy-ending-creators-michael-arden-and-dane-laffrey-on-their-enchanting-musical-052725
#422
Posted: 5/27/25 at 1:02pm
Perhaps a minority opinion: I find the score under-appreciated. Its ability to make the sci-fi esque world-building in the show accessible is remarkable. For my money, the craft alone is stellar. "The World Within My Room" is a brilliantly specific I Want song that folds into 5 minutes an extraordinary volume of exposition. This is not an easy circumstance to pin down emotionally. Yet "World Within..." covers Oliver's entire backstory, his quest, longing, and sense of abandonment. I am stunned by how fully it encapsulates the character's predicament.
But the show has many catchy and moving numbers. The 3 iterations of the on-the-road song, written for this production, is infectious and beautifully performed.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#423
Posted: 5/30/25 at 11:14am
The challenge of replacing Oliver in Maybe Happy Ending will come sooner than I expected. Darren Criss is leaving the musical after the show’s Aug. 31 performance.
This is described by the show as an extension and raises several questions for me. How long are typical Broadway contracts? Previews started Oct. 15, 2024. How long was his original contract? Nine months, maybe? Might it have started when rehearsals did? I don’t know how these sorts of contracts usually work.
The timing of the announcement is interesting. It comes right in the middle of Tony Awards voting in the Best Actor race. Criss will remain in his show longer than all of his competitors with the exception of Andrew Durand (unless Dead Outlaw closes early, which is possible) and Jonathan Groff. I doubt this will affect the voting but others would know more about that.
I assume Criss has another gig lined up and/or wants some time off.
The bigger question is the impact on the musical itself. Criss has been a marvel in his role as a robot, and his work with Helen J. Shen really made what is very close to a two-hander work. I have speculated previously that replacing Criss would be challenging for that reason.
Maybe Happy Ending should get a major boost if, as I’m expecting, it wins Best Musical. It’s certainly not impossible to replace Criss. It just seems trickier in a small-scale show like this than in others.
Updated On: 5/30/25 at 11:14 AM
#424
Posted: 5/30/25 at 11:27am
I thought Criss was excellent, but not essential to the show’s creative success. I also doubt he’s helping it that much at the box office, given how poor the sales were prior to opening night. He probably helped them from a press standpoint the most.
Didn’t Zach Noah Piser do the workshops? He’d be solid in it.
A typical Broadway contract is one year from the start of previews, but there are no rules. Criss is something of a star and it’s unusual for a star to give a year nowadays. Rudin getting Jackman and Daniels to give a year is an anomaly, not the norm. Criss also has a young family.
#425
Posted: 5/30/25 at 11:44am
I probably will want to just see new shows in November. But I have looked at & contemplated getting tickets to see this again. But, Criss leaving means I will just wait to see the tour version somewhere.
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